


Fortune Is Unpredictable

by inkycat



Category: RWBY
Genre: Action, Action/Adventure, Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Drama, F/F, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:01:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23631301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkycat/pseuds/inkycat
Summary: Set 10 years in the future from Volume 7. In the final showdown, Ruby gave her life to overthrow Salem and bring peace to Remnant. To celebrate this peace, the newly established Beacon Academy is hosting the first Vytal Tournament in 11 years. Old friends meet up and share memories. However, all it not what it seems, with new trouble lurking underfoot...
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Weiss & ???, more relationships will be later as the story develops
Comments: 1
Kudos: 20





	1. Prologue

It was a calm evening. The sun was beginning to set, bathing The Patch in a golden dusky glow. Two figures stood before the two gravestones that were beset on the edge of the cliff. 

“She’s not coming then?”

Blake looked at Yang dejectedly.

“She hasn’t been in the past three years, I doubt she would come today,” Yang sighed.

“I mean, I know she has been so busy recently, the recent attacks on the Schnee Dust Company must have really added to her workload.” Blake replied in her defence.

“Still,” Yang said, with a slight hint of annoyance in her tone, “You’d think she’d at least return our calls, or even just reply back to one of our messages.”

Blake felt a pang of sadness hit her. She knew that Yang was annoyed at Weiss, as she had dropped off communicating with them; apart from the annual message to apologise about missing the trip to The Patch. However Blake also knew that Weiss had a lot of bad memories attached to the two gravestones standing in front of them. 

Whilst Yang had thrown herself into teaching the students at the newly re-established Beacon Academy, Weiss had buried herself further and further into work at her family’s Dust Company.

Blake turned to face the sun, which now lit up the sky in brilliant shades of pink, purple and gold. 

“I know, I miss her too. I guess we just deal with our grief in different ways.” 

With that, Blake slipped her hand in Yangs and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“You’re right Blake. I just miss her so much. I miss them both a lot.”

“Well, the Vytal festival is in just a few weeks time! We’ll definitely get to see her then!”

Yang perked up at the thought of the Vytal Festival, returning for the first time to Vale, since the original attack twelve years prior. As one of the professors at Beacon Academy, she’d had her fair share of work helping get the project back off the ground. 

“Yeah, I think Team JNR is going to be there too. Oh and I think Sun said his team would be heading there too! Just think, the whole gang will be back together.” 

“Now that’s the spirit Yang!” Blake grinned.

Yang smiled at Blake, grateful to have the black haired faunus at her side. She then took a step forward and grabbed the two bouquets of flowers from her backpack. Kneeling down in front two graves, she placed the white roses on the grave marked ‘Summer Rose’, and the set of red roses on the grave marked ‘Ruby Rose’. 

“I miss you so much Rubes. These past seven years have felt like forever, but I think you’d be proud of the progress we’ve made. Beacon Academy is doing better than ever! We’re even holding the Vytal Festival this year. First time since the academy has been rebuilt, and it’s going to be amazing! I think you’d be so jealous of all the tournament, just think of all the new weapons that are going to be there. I know all of my students are very excited to enter.”

Yang fondly reminisced about how excited her younger sister used to get, when getting she’d meet a new hunter or huntress, and seeing exactly what sort of weapon they were wielding.

“I hope you and Summer are doing okay up there. It’s pretty lonely without you down here.”

Yang gazed up at the sky, as the sun sunk slowly down into the skyline, the tree’s shadows growing longer by the minute.

“Unfortunately I can’t stay too much longer, dad is cooking and I don’t want to be late for that. He’s making your favourite! Cheese and bacon pasta. Plus I’ve been away from Beacon a while, and need to get some rest before we travel back tomorrow morning.”

Blake knelt down beside Yang.

“Let’s head back.”

They both stood up, and began to head back toward the Xiao Long residence, hand in hand. Yang took one last look behind her. The graves were now basking in the evening glow, with the whole forest ablaze in the golden light. There was a slight breeze, with a couple of the rose petals blowing off the graves, reminding Yang of her younger sister’s semblance. No matter where she looked, she could not help but see Ruby everywhere she went.

_________________

Meanwhile in stark contrast, Weiss Schnee sat alone, watching the sun go down out of a high arched window. 

The sky blazed in a brilliant red glow, casting long shadows on the trees in the mansion’s front garden. Of course the sky would be red, today of all days. 

Weiss felt a small buzz in her pocket and she opened her scroll to see two messages from Blake.

*We miss you very much. Can’t believe how much time has passed already. Both me and Yang are super hyped to see you soon at the Vytal Festival. I think Sun and Jaune are getting their old teams back together for it as well! Would be awesome to get a little reunion of the crew back together. Maybe even have a drink at the old Crow’s Bar.”

Attached to the first message, was a photo. It was of Ruby’s grave, with the flowers laid upon it and the sun setting in the background. 

Weiss felt a surge of guilt go through her as she read the message. It had been such a long time since she had seen either of her former teammates. But Weiss couldn’t face them. She knew that they must be annoyed with her, but Ruby’s death had hit her hard.

‘I thought the grieving process was meant to be easier, the longer time went on’, Weiss mused.

She put her scroll back in her pocket and stood up. Sleeping tonight was going to be next to none existent and Weiss knew she had a never ending mountain of work in her study, just waiting for her to slowly dig through. 

However, after about 10 minutes of trying to re-read the same email a multitude of times, Weiss lent back and sighed in annoyance. Her concentration was dipping and her mind kept wandering back to Blake’s message. 

Taking her scroll back out, she then looked at the image that Blake had sent. The whole photo looked hauntingly beautiful. Ruby’s gravestone hadn’t yet acquired the weathered look that her mother’s had, with the stone still looking as clean cut as it had five years ago. 

Five years.

Five years since Ruby had died. The final showdown with Salem and Cinder had been an all out battle and there had been heavy losses on both sides. 

Weiss missed her partner so much. The way each day was just another adventure with Ruby, their valiant team leader. Even in the darkest of days, she knew exactly the words to cheer them up. As they grew older, and had begun taking on more serious missions, Ruby’s goofy and carefree attitude had never changed, though Ruby knew how to be serious when the time came for it. 

Weiss cared for her in a way that she had never cared for anyone else before. Although she dearly loved her elder sister, and deeply cared for her teammates, there was a connection she had made with Ruby that ran stronger than anything she’d felt before. 

It was the way that Weiss could be her true self around Ruby, and could never be judged. The way that Ruby could see all the best parts of Weiss, when she felt at her lowest. It was the way that Ruby could know how to make her happy, when Weiss felt there could be nothing to be happy about.

To Weiss, she felt the most at home with Ruby.

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose with her finger and thumb.

“Ah what the heck,” she sighed, “Ruby wouldn’t want me to sit here alone forever.”

Weiss didn’t know what had come over her, but before she knew it, she had already replied back to Blake without thinking about it.

*I would love to meet up for a drink. When and where?*

Sent.

Weiss suddenly felt a feeling she hadn’t felt in a long time. Excitement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I haven't written a fanfic in a very long time. However I was struck with inspiration and wrote down the plot to this fic. I've written most of the next chapter and will probably post it once I've smoothed over and gotten the final details. Hopefully you guys will enjoy this!


	2. Chapter 1 - I Can Not Redo The Past, But The Present Is Mutable

Chapter 1 - I Can Not Redo The Past, But The Present Is Mutable

___________________________________________________________________

The Crow’s Bar came into sight. It was their team’s old haunt, a place where they used to frequent back in the day, between various missions. A flood of memories hit Weiss, and suddenly she was hit with the desire to turn around and head back to her hotel.

How many years had it been since she had last seen her teammates face to face? After their final mission against Salem, the three of them felt like they couldn’t celebrate their hard earned victory, with the loss of their leader. The three of them grieved hard in their own ways. 

Every year, they made a promise to visit the Patch, to pay homage to Ruby. However, every year had grown harder for Weiss, as whilst Blake and Yang had found comfort in each other, Weiss felt like she couldn’t turn to anyone. 

In the end, it was her brother, out of all the people, who helped give her a purpose again. 

Whilst Whitley had initially taken over their families Dust company; with their father in jail and Winter taking over looking after the Atlas military, he struggled by himself to oversee and control the company and had called upon Weiss to help with the work. 

Weiss at first was hesitant, but seeing her brother beg so hard for her help, Weiss had reluctantly complied. And strangely they had struck up an unlikely partnership. Although Weiss knew that they wouldn’t ever be good friends, they had a mutual respect for each other. And it worked.

Weiss had spent long days pouring over various emails and meetings, helping build back up the reputation of the company. She had implemented new policies for their workers, making sure that the faunus and humans got equal pay, sick leave and holidays. Weiss put in new company laws to ensure the miners got fair working hours and added in bonus reward schemes. 

Although they weren’t making nearly as big of a profit as the company made in her father’s day, workers morale had never been higher, and slowly but surely, the company had regained it’s pride and status.

And before Weiss knew it, three long years had passed since she had last seen her teammates. Something or another would pop up around the time to her trip to the Patch, which she would have to postpone. 

Each time, guilt would engulf her, about not being there with her teammates. However, throwing herself into work was the only way she could get through it. Even more so now, with the recent attacks on various Dust shipping containers meant that she was working overtime, collating more paperwork, and consulting with the police and local huntsmen on the matter. 

But, something deep inside her had yearned for the first time in five years. The longing to see her teammates had overcome her need to bury herself in work.

_____

However, now that she was standing outside the Crow’s Bar, the guilt bubbled up inside her again. How much were they going to hate her, for not showing up over the past three years?

Weiss knew how stubborn and hot headed Yang could get, and she was afraid of what she would say to her for not turning up to their annual Patch homage. She was also so worried at how disappointed Blake would be for the fact she had barely messaged or phoned them.

She could feel her heart thumping hard against her chest, and there was a shortness of breath that she could swear was not there before. 

Maybe it was best if she could turn back.

Before they could say anything to her.

Yes, this would be the best course of action.

But before she could act on her impulse, two familiar figures came into view.

“Weiss!!” called the slim, black haired faunus, waving her down.

“Oh hey guys,” Weiss replied nervously.

The two of them looked the same as when she had last seen them three years ago. Yang’s long blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail, and she was wearing a pair of yellow crop top, sported by a pair of tan dungarees. Meanwhile, Blake’s bobbed hair had grown down just past her shoulders, and she was wearing black spandex leggings complimented with a purple tank top. On top of her head, propped by her cat ears, were a pair of neon sunglasses. 

In comparison, Weiss was wearing a smart white dress, with a light blue jacket to cover it. Her long white hair had been very neatly plaited into a bun, which just sat just off center. Weiss felt very self conscious of how overdressed she was compared to the two of them.

“Hey Weiss,” Yang said stiffly.

Oh no, thought Weiss, what was I thinking? Of course this was not a good idea!

But suddenly, Yang scooped her and Blake into a big hug. 

Weiss blinked, and then found that there were tears welling up in her eyes.

“Yang.. I..” she started.

“It’s okay Weiss,” she replied softly.

With those three words, Weiss suddenly felt the tense pains in her chest vanish and the tears began falling fast down her face.

It was such a comforting embrace with Yang and Blake. The nostalgic feel of the two of them holding Weiss softly and gently made her realise that she was so touch starved and had craved human contact dearly. 

Sure, Weiss had exchanged brief hugs with her elder sister in the rare moments that they were alone, but it was nothing compared to her teammates embrace. 

Weiss had missed this so much.

In what felt like an eternity, Weiss finally looked up to see that there were tears in both Yang and Blake’s eyes.

“You guys,” she murmured.

“Weiss you dolt,” smiled Blake as she put her hand around Weiss’s head, “you know we would never hate you.”

Weiss smiled guiltily and broke apart the hug. 

“I know, but I’ve been such an awful teammate,” Weiss began.

“I mean a call or text every once in a while would have been nice,” smirked Yang, “but as I’ve been reminded by Blake on multiple occasions, everyone deals with grief in their own ways.”

“Still though,” replied Weiss, “dealing with grief, doesn’t mean ignoring my best friends.”

“Well, I won’t lie, it’s been hard, especially with all the shit that we went through,” said Yang.

“But all that matters is that you’re here now,” replied Blake. 

Although Weiss still felt a tremendous amount of guilt and anxiety about how she had avoided her friends all of this time, relief flooded her body, and she silently thanked her lucky stars of how grateful she was to have Yang and Blake as her teammates;- no her family. 

____________________________________

A group of loud, obnoxious people walked past them, and entered the Crow’s Bar. Although she wanted to have a proper catchup in private with her teammates, maybe today was not the right day, especially given how many people seemed to be entering the bar.

“I don’t think I’m feeling like a drink after all guys,” Weiss started.

“Don’t be silly Weiss, you’re gonna miss all the fun!” Yang grinned. 

“I’m not sure,” Weiss attempted to argue. 

“Too late,” and with that Yang grabbed Weiss’s hand and pulled her through the door. Blake laughed and headed in closely behind. Nobody could argue with Yang, once she had made her mind up.

The bar was more crowded than Weiss remembered. The tables were packed with the influx of people across Remnant, who had come to Vale that week to watch the festival in person. Not to mention that the queue for the bar seemed incredibly long. 

“Come on, I think the others have saved us a table at the back!” said Yang, trying to pull Weiss through.

However it was more tightly crammed than Yang initially anticipated, and in the process, they both bumped into a small woman with dark blue hair, who got knocked into the bar on their way in. She stopped and looked at them, her amber eyes widening in surprise at them.

“Sorry about that!” Yang apologised. The woman looked at them, and then gave an awkward smile.

“It's no harm, happens a lot,” she replied.

“Ah really sorry to hear that, can I buy you a drink to make up for that?” Yang asked.

The woman smiled and then shook her head.

“I appreciate the offer, but it’s okay. I was just on my way out.”

“Ah no worries,” said Yang, “well enjoy your evening!”

“Thanks.” And with that, the woman squeezed past the pair and Blake, before heading out of the front door.

Yang shrugged, and then began pulling Weiss’s hand once again, and they navigated through the crowds towards the back of the bar.

“Miss Xiao Long, I do hope you are not flirting with other women!” chided Blake to her wife as they walked along. Yang laughed, and before she could come up with a witty retort back, an orange electric current crashed into both of them.

“YANG! BLAKE!” she cried with glee, hugging the pair of them.

“It’s good to see you too Nora!” Blake replied.

“Oh, and is that Weiss with you guys?!” Nora said, suddenly spotting Weiss standing awkwardly next to them.

“Hey Nora!” began Weiss. 

“Weiss, it’s been too long!” Nora scooped up Weiss into a bone crushing hug.

“Come on, everyone is this way,” she said, and motioned the trio to follow her.

Suddenly a table of very familiar faces came into view.

Weiss felt a surge of happiness seeing her old friends again. Nora took her seat back next to Ren, who put his arm around her. Sat next to them was Jaune, whose face was framed by a scraggy blonde beard. Opposite him sat Sun whose tail perked up as soon as he saw the trio. Then there was Neptune!

Neptune was as cool and suave as she remembered.

“Hello there Ice Queen,” he grinned, “Still looking as gorgeous as ever!”

Flustering at his words, Weiss looked away, to hide her blushing cheeks.

“And glad to see that you are still as terrible at greetings as ever,” she chided disapprovingly. Neptune pouted his lips at her.

“And there was me, thinking that you had missed me!” 

“In your dreams!” 

Weiss gave a small laugh, and took a seat next to him. Blake and Yang squeezed in next to her.

“So, what’s new then?” Sun asked.

“Well, would you believe that I’ve been helping out on a small little project,” Yang grinned sarcastically.

“Small?!” remarked Blake, “I’ve barely seen you for the past year whilst you’ve been working on the Vytal Festival!”

Yang laughed. 

“Ha, well it’s been quite a feat trying to get the Vytal Festival up and running again. You would not believe the security measures that are being put in place. Well, not that I can really talk about it, especially in a public place.”

“I can only imagine, it’s the first time it’s been held in 11 years?” Ren remarked.

“Yeah, now that Glenda has taken over as headmistress of Beacon, she’s been very keen to get things back and running of how they used to be,” Yang replied, “And the amount of persuading it took from the other schools to participate was such a long process.”

“Tell me about it,” said Sun, “I know that the only Mistral reason was persuaded was because of the help from your sister Weiss.”

“Yes,” Weiss responded, “now that she’s in charge of both the military and Atlas Academy, it definitely helped move the negotiations along.” 

Weiss faintly remembered one of the offhand comments that Winter had made during one of her infrequent visits, about the amount of stress from planning the security around the tournament.

“But you haven’t even got to the best part about it!” Nora butted in.

Weiss looked confused at Nora’s statement.

“Me and Nora are going to be commentating the whole thing!” Yang grinned. 

Weiss laughed. Of course, it made perfect sense for the two of them to be casting the tournament. Nora’s zealous personality made for a great amplifier for Yang’s infectious enthusiasm. 

“I didn’t realise that you were going to be working the festival as well,” Weiss said.

“Yeah well, I’ve been teaching at Beacon for just over a year now,” Nora replied, “it made sense for me to help out in any way that I could!”

“I didn’t realise it had been that long!” Sun commented.

“I didn’t realise you had been working at Beacon at all,” remarked Weiss.

“Well, me, Ren and Jaune all mutually agreed that we would take an early retirement from being hunters and huntresses. Glenda had a post going at the school, and I’ve always wanted to give back in any way that I could!” Nora replied.

Weiss could only imagine what Nora teaching style could be like. She fantaised her to be on par with Doctor Ooobleck’s quirky methods.

“So what are you up to Ren and Jaune?” Neptune asked.

“Well, I’ve decided to open up a tea shop,” Ren smiled.

“A tea shop?” Sun gasped in excitement.

“Yes,” Ren replied, “It’s called the Silver Lotus, named after my father’s emblem. When my father wasn’t busy working as a hunter, he taught me the family art of making fine tea.”

“It’s delicious!” Nora interrupted, “you guys should come down and visit at some point! It’s super near the campus.”

Nora gave Ren an exuberant kiss on the check, which he looked away shyly in return, not wanting to be the center of attention. 

“So what are you up to these days then?” asked Weiss to Jaune, trying to turn the attention away from Ren.

“Well,” Jaune said, putting his hand behind his head, “I’ve been working in the local workshop, helping the blacksmith in creating weapons for the students at Beacon Academy and the local hunters and huntresses in Vale.”

That took her by surprise.

“You, working as a blacksmith?”

“Yeah, after being friends with Ruby for many years, her infectious love of weaponry rubbed off on me a little bit,” he replied, “of course, me, Nora and Ren still work as hunters if the occasion calls for it. But as you know, Grimm attacks have been few and far between.”

It was true. Since the defeat of Salem, there had been far fewer Grimm sightings across Remnant. Bit by bit, Vale had been rebuilt, and the Grimm had been pushed out into the unpopulated forests. Hunters would take trips out to remote villages to make sure that they were equipped to deal with stray Grimm attacks. 

However apart from dealing with stray Grimm attacks, these days the Hunters were more mainly seen as a symbol of peace. They more worked with local police forces to help out with issues that were too dangerous for them to deal with, usually by stopping various smuggler and bandit gangs. 

Well tried too. Weiss still had her annoyance that they hadn’t managed to stop the various attacks that plagued her various Dust shipping containers across the continent. 

“Yes,” Sun agreed, “tell me about it.”

“Team SSSN still up and running as Huntsmen?” Nora inquired.

“Yup! Though these days it’s mainly just patrols around the city. I can’t really complain though, it’s nice not having to worry about if I’m going to be alive within the next fortnight.”

Neptune nodded in agreement. 

“Pfft, I take that as code for spending the day lazing away.” Blake grinned playfully.

“Ah Blake, why you gotta be so mean for,” groaned Sun back, dramatically pulling his arm across his forehead.

“Such the diva,” Blake teased back. 

The two of them bickered back and forth, and soon the table was in a general ruckus of excitable stories of what they had been up to over the past few years. Yang disappeared for a short period of time, before returning with a full tray of drinks, which only served to fuel the group's playful antics. 

Before she knew it, with the combination of alcohol and many merry laughs, Weiss realised how relaxed she felt. She had missed this so much.

______________________________________________

After a couple hours later, with several rounds of drinks in their stomachs, Weiss decided to call it a night. Yang and Nora had decided to hold various arm wrestling competitions across the table to see who was the strongest (Yang), who had the most stamina (Nora) and who was the most devious at winning (Blake).

“I think I’m going to head off for the night guys,” Weiss said, standing up and putting her jacket on.

“Leaving so soon?” Yang asked.

“Yes, unfortunately a large inbox of unread messages is calling me,” Weiss replied.

“Boo,” pouted Yang, “all work and no play, is no fun at all.”

“Yes,” agreed Weiss, “but I’m afraid various stakeholders and clients in my company would say otherwise.”

“Well, what’s your schedule looking like tomorrow?” asked Yang, “surely you’re staying for a few days in Vale right?”

“Yes,” said Weiss, “I’m here to watch the tournament, have a few business meetings, and then I’ll be heading back to Atlas.”

“That’s great!” replied Yang, “fancy meeting for breakfast tomorrow and I can take you on a tour around the new Beacon Academy?”

“Sure. I’ll make sure to put it in my diary.”

Weiss took out her scroll and marked out the event in her calendar. Neptune took the opportunity to stand up as well.

“It’s pretty late, want me to walk you back to your hotel?” he offered.

“That’s much appreciated, but don’t you want to stay here with Sun?” 

“Nah, I’m feeling pretty tired myself, plus I have a few things to do tomorrow that I need to get up early for.”

“Okay sure,” Weiss begrudgingly agreed.

The two of them waved goodbye to the table and headed out of the bar. It was considerably emptier and later than when they had initially arrived.

They walked down several streets, in a comfortable silence. How long had it been since she had last been alone with Neptune, Weiss thought. She pondered back to their days as respective students. She had always admired Neptune, with him being one of the more studious out of their group of friends.

Weiss also remembered the way he used to make her laugh, with his flirty demeanour. She cast her mind back to the school dance, when she had awkwardly asked him to accompany her. Oh gosh, what was she thinking?

Weiss felt her cheeks blushing once more, and she was glad that it was dark because he couldn’t see her.

“You alright there Snow Angel?”

“Huh?” 

It had been a while since he had called her by that nickname.

“I’m fine, why do you ask?”

“It’s just been so long since we’ve seen each other. You’re a lot quieter than what you used to be.” 

“I guess,” agreed Weiss, “just a lot has changed over the years.”

“I can only imagine.” 

Weiss knew that he wanted her to open up more to him, but honestly it had been so long since she had opened up to anyone, that she didn’t know how to. Her usual go to confident had been gone for just over five years.

“Listen,” Neptune continued, “I know you’ve probably heard it a lot from Blake and Yang, but we are here for you. We all miss her, you know.”

She looked up at him and smiled.

“I appreciate that Neptune.”

They walked in silence the rest of the journey to the hotel. The alcohol had had more of an effect that Weiss would like to admit on her, and her mind felt foggy and kept wandering.

It felt so surreal being back in Vale, back being with her friends. About how much had changed since she had last seen them, but also how little they had changed in personality. 

As her hotel came into view, Weiss felt a prickling on the back of her neck. Almost like she was being watched. She turned and looked around, but couldn’t see anyone in the nearby vicinity. 

She sighed, her paranoia was clearly running in overdrive. Weiss had been on many missions where she had learnt to be on constant standby in case of Grimm attack or enemy ambush. The alcohol seemed to serve only to amp it up in this situation.

“Well, we’ve arrived at your destination, goodnight my snow angel,” Neptune grinned, kissing her hand and doing a mock bow.

“You flirt,” she chided back. Neptune stood back up and gave her a hug.

Although not as long as the embrace she had shared with Yang and Blake, it was reassuring, and drove all thoughts about being watched out of her mind.

“I’ll see you soon Neptune.”

With that, she turned and headed up the steps into the hotel.

_______________________________

Meanwhile across the street, in the shadows, a lone figure watched as Neptune crossed the street and headed off into the distance.

They pulled open their scroll and quickly swiped to their messaging app.

*Found out the Schnee Heiress’s hotel location. Sending the address to you now.

D*


	3. Chapter 2 - But The Present Is Mutable

It was very early as Yang walked through the city of Vale. The streets were filled with the hustle and bustle of various commuters on their way to work.

Yang never used to be an early morning sort of person, but after teaching at Beacon, she had adapted her sleeping schedule. However though, with how late she had stayed up last night, not to mention the copious amounts of alcohol she had consumed, Yang knew that she was going to buy the strongest coffee, with as many shots of caffeine that were humanely possible.

Turning the corner of the street, she spotted the familiar shopfront of the Silver Lotus. It’s wooden sign swayed gently in the breeze. Jars of various tea leaves lined the window. Yang pushed the door open, and the aroma of tea and coffee flooded her nose. It was fairly busy inside of the small cafe, with several of the tables filled with various dreary eyed customers. 

Amongst them, Yang spotted a familiar white haired woman. Squeezing past the line of people queuing at the till, she sat down opposite her.

“Good morning Weiss!” she smiled cheerily.

“How do you have so much energy this early in the morning?” Weiss replied groggily.

“The thought of seeing my beloved teammate” Yang grinned. 

Weiss smirked at her and rolled her eyes.

“Hmmph, I believe there may be a ulterior reason.”

“I cannot believe you would think that little of me,” said Yang, mocking distress, “but yes, the thought of copious amounts of Ren’s brewed coffee is powering me through this morning.” 

Weiss gave a small laugh, which made Yang happy. She was initially worried with how reserved she’d been acting last night at the Crow’s Bar, and that Weiss would be distant towards her today. But she seemed more like the old Weiss back in their old days as teammates. 

Yang knew it would take time for Weiss to readjust to being back together. Heck, though Yang had been initially hesitant about seeing her, Blake had reminded her that she had lost her partner. Something which was not easy to get over. 

And Yang wanted to help her to ease back into normalcy, in any way possible. 

“So, what can I get you for breakfast?”

Weiss grabbed the battered menu in front of her and flicked through the pages. 

“Hmm, a jasmine green tea and an eggs benedict.”

“Coming right up!” 

Yang stood up and joined the back of the line. The queue was fairly short, but she noticed the blue haired woman she’d knocked into yesterday was standing near the front. She seemed to be fairly deep in conversation with a silver haired guy. Yang couldn’t hear what they were saying, but with the familiarity that they seemed to be speaking, she presumed they must be close. Work colleagues? Or maybe something more? Dating maybe? 

But before she could continue her train of thought, a hand tapped her on the back.

“Yang!” 

She turned around to see a scraggly faced man.

“Hey Jaune, how’s it going?”

“You know, too early to function properly.”

Jaune gave her a bleary eyed grin. Out of all of her friends, he was one of the people who had changed most after the battle against Salem. 

When he had lost Pyrrha, Jaune had become more distant and reserved. He didn’t laugh as much as he used to when he was a student, and he had a hard time relaxing, spending many hours mulling over strategies and defense with Ruby. Her death had also hit him pretty hard. 

After the war, he had found an alternative outlet in working as a blacksmith, channeling his energy in crafting weapons. Yang knew that Ruby’s keen interest in weaponry had been the spark in igniting Jaune’s newfound career change. 

Like Blake had said to Yang on many occasions, people dealt with grief in their own way. With Jaune, he liked to keep his mind busy by creating.

“My boss thinks the most productive time is about three hours before most people are awake,” Jaune said sarcastically.

Yang smirked, “Ah, a woman of good wisdom then!”

Jaune sighed. Yang had met with Jaune’s boss on many occasions, as one of her own classes was weaponcraft and combat. This meant that there were frequent visits to the blacksmith with her students to repair broken weapons, which had got damaged during sparring sessions. His boss was a woman of strict composure, who took a no nonsense attitude. It was one of the qualities that Yang admired about her. Another was her insane depth of knowledge about her craft. Yang could sit and listen for hours about how each weapon was unique to their welder, and how they reflected what sort of person that they were.

“Urgh, of course you would take her side” Jaune moaned, but gave her a small smile. 

“Got much to do today in the workshop?” Yang asked.

“Yeah, the tournament starts tomorrow so we’ve got students queuing up to get their weapons fixed. Though you would have thought they would have got their requests in way earlier.”

Yang laughed, “you do realise they are students right? They always seem to leave everything to the last minute!”

“Ah I forget. Oh to be young and the worst thing you have to worry about is essay deadlines.”

“I agree, it’s been such a long time since we’ve had to stress about homework and exams.”

Yang reminisced fondly of the days back as a student where she and the gang would spend many hours in the library, whittling away the hours playing board games, despite the looming deadlines. 

“And now the thought of overtime is the only thing that fills my head.”

They were so engrossed in conversation that Yang hadn’t realised that they had reached the front of the line. 

“Hey Yang, will it be your usual today?” Ren asked. 

He stood behind the counter, with his long hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a coffee stained apron. Ren was one of the few people that Yang was friends with that actually enjoyed getting up early in the morning. 

“Yes,” Yang replied, “along with some of your green tea and an eggs benedict for Weiss.”

Ren jotted it down on his notepad, “I see that her impeccable taste hasn’t changed a single bit.”

“Agreed,” Yang said, “though I don’t know how people find green tea ‘impeccable’, with how bitter it tastes”.

Ren gave her a small grin, “well I don’t know how some people can have so many shots of caffeine in their morning coffee Yang”. 

“Touche.”  
\---

Twenty minutes later, Weiss cupped the mug of tea, savouring it’s warmth in her hands. Yang watched her from across the table, enjoying the quiet company. How long had it been since they both had sat together like this? Long had the times gone where Team RWBY would enjoy a raucous breakfast with each other. 

“So what’s the plan for today then Yang?” Weiss asked, taking a sip of her green tea, interrupting Yang from her thoughts.

“Well since you are here early for the Vytal Festival, I thought I might take you on a tour on Beacon. How long has it been since you’ve last been in Vale?” 

Weiss tensed up and put the mug down. 

“Honestly, not since it fell, all those years ago.” She looked forlornly down at the mug in her hands, “I wish I could have come back sooner, but I felt like I couldn’t.”

Pushing her plate of food to the side, Yang reached across the table and put her hands over Weiss’s. She knew what Weiss wanted to say, and she didn’t want to force her to say it.

“It’s okay, you wouldn’t have wanted to come back any earlier anyways,” Yang replied, “it was a building site for the longest time, not much to see!”

The white haired woman gave her a small smile, grateful to have changed the subject. Yang knew that at some point Weiss would need to talk to her and Blake about the events that had transpired since the battle of Salem, but now was not the time. 

“Oh pur-lease! Not like I’m used to seeing building sites anyway, I take regular trips to the Schnee mines to make sure the workers conditions are up to par.” 

“I’m glad to see that the Schnee Dust Company is living up to its newfound reputation.”

“Well, I wanted to fix what unsavoury practices that my father had instated, and my younger brother may have needed a helping hand in that.”

Yang noted the frown in Weiss’s face. She remembered how proud Weiss originally was her father's company. However over time she had become disillusioned with the way he had run it to the point where the legacy had been forcibly passed to her younger brother.

“That’s good to hear, it must have been tough working with him”. 

Yang remembered what a snobbish young boy Whitley had been, flaunting his wealth and inheritance in the face of Team RWBY. He had been everything that was wrong with the Schnee family.

“I will admit, I honestly did not expect Whitley to come to me asking me to help run the company. However it was what I was brought up to do, as by my father.”

Weiss winced, at what Yang thought of was presumably about her father. Yang remembered the day when Weiss was finally able to expose his misdeeds, which had driven an even bigger rift between the two of them. And ever since he had remained behind bars in Atlas.

“Have you managed to keep in contact with him?” Yang asked gingerly.

She saw Weiss’s hands tense over the mug of tea, her knuckles turning white.

“Honestly no, the last time I went to visit him, he spat in my face and declared me no daughter of his.”

“Oh Weiss,” Yang once again put her hands around Weiss’s and gave them a reassuring squeeze, “he does not realise what he has lost.”

Her lilac eyes met with ice blue, and noticed as they had glazed over. 

“Yang,” she began saying, “oh Yang.”

“Hey, hey,” Yang replied back reassuringly, “no tears here. Besides I thought the ice queen didn’t cry.”

Weiss let out a small laugh, “I didn’t realise how much I needed this.”

“It’s only a mug of tea,” Yang smirked back.

“Hey,” Weiss gave Yang a playful punch over the table, “you know what I mean.”

Smiling back, Yang couldn’t help but feel bittersweet. Part of her was feeling guilt at how little she had tried to reach out to Weiss over the past few years. Yang knew in part it was because she had been too wrapped in her own grief to reach out properly. Atlas had been so far away, and she had blamed Weiss for not seeing them sooner. Even accused her for being too busy to see her.

However, in these past 24 hours, Yang realised that actually it had been a lot on her. She had not realised how much Weiss was having to cope with over the past few years. Yang had only retrospectively realised that she had been avoiding Weiss as much as Weiss had been avoiding her. 

And for that, Yang felt more the need, now more than ever to reconnect with her old teammate.  
________________________

Despite the fact it had been many years since Weiss had stepped foot at Beacon, she could not help but be in awe of the majesty of the academy. She could see the newly reinstated Beacon tower loomed over the CCT and residential buildings below, with the infamous statue of the hunter and huntress at its feet. Weiss couldn’t help but remember how it looked when she was last here, the top of the tower destroyed, and the dragonic Grimm frozen solid at its peak. 

The memory of the Battle of Beacon was fresh in her mind, like it was just yesterday. It was the event that kick started the long six year campaign of their fight against Salem. It was also the moment they first found out about Ruby's power.

The events of the battle played out in her head; Ruby’s last second plan to save Pyrrah. Weiss’s long fight against the Grimm below. The flash of radiant white light. The moments after that left her dazed. Qrow showing up out of nowhere, shouting furious requests to Ruby’s whereabouts. The few moments later, when he returned, cradling her unconscious body in his arms.

Weiss remembered how small she looked. Worry and relief had flooded her to find out that she was safe. However, Ruby remained in coma in the days that followed the battle, and Weiss had been whisked away before she could have a chance to say goodbye.

How she had despised her father for doing so. 

Walking along the Main Avenue into the main courtyard, things could not not be any different.

The central courtyard had been adorned in colourful bunty and various half built food stalls were in the process of being set up. Although it was still fairly early in the morning, preparations were in full swing for the festival..

It was also pretty busy with students milling about, waiting to start their first classes of the day. 

“It’s the last day of classes before the festival,” commented Yang, “although I doubt there will be much teaching done today.”

Weiss smirked. She remembered how excited they were back then. Twenty minutes into the first class of the day and Professor Port could see how antsy students were, so he ended up giving up their lecture on Grimm anatomy in favour of letting the students take the rest of the day to practice sparring with each other. Team Rwby had taken the opportunity to scout out the rival teams.

“Ha, I’m surprised you just didn’t give them the day off completely,” Weiss grinned.

Yang smiled and put her hand behind her head, “Glynda didn’t seem to think that was a good idea.”

“You would have thought she would have learnt from the last time.” 

The pair of them laughed, at the soft fondness of the memory. Now that she was standing here at Beacon, Weiss felt the guilt pulling at her heart. It had been so long since she had been able to laugh like this, and it made her feel anxious. She felt like she didn’t deserve to laugh like this.

Not since Ruby was gone. 

The tugging on her arm pulled her out of her thoughts, and she found herself following the blonde haired woman.

Yang’s tour took them all over the campus. Most of the original buildings were still intact, with simple renovations done to modernise the rooms. One of the bigger changes was to the dining hall, which was one of the worst hit areas of the school, where it’s more gothic architecture had been replaced with a more rustic design. 

Walking through the corridors, Weiss would occasionally look into the classrooms, to watch classes in session. She was surprised how normal everything seemed. 

Nora gave her a cheeky wink, when she saw her peeping through hwe door, which Weiss sheepishly gave a small wave back. 

“What do you think of the new Beacon?” Yang asked, as they walked into the amphitheater.

“It’s very surreal being here,” replied Weiss, “it honestly feels like I’ve not left.”

The amphitheater was the place where she had first met Ruby. The meeting could not have gone any more differently. She remembered how much she had chastised Ruby for being clumsy, and not knowing who she was. Weiss grimaced at the thought of how stuck up she used to be.

“So Weiss, I know it’s been a long time since you’ve set foot here, but I was wondering, how are your reflexes been as sharp as they used to be?”

Weiss felt like she knew what was coming next, “what are you suggesting?”

“Just a simple sparring match,” Yang winked, “I want to see if you’ve been keeping up with your training.”

Weiss felt skeptical, most of her time these days had been spent sitting for long periods of time inside of her study. Although she had sometimes taken to training on her own when she had been feeling particularly restless or wanted to work off some stress, it was nothing compared to Yang who had been sparring with her students on a regular basis.

“I’m not sure Yang, I mean I feel like one of us has the upper hand when it comes fighting close combat.”

Yang grinned, “come on Weiss, haven’t you missed the thrill of the fight?”

Weiss did admit that long hours of paperwork and meetings certainly did not compare to the adrenaline of the battle. 

“I mean, of course I have, but I don’t think I have the edge as much as I used to.”

“Nonsense,” rebutted Yang, “I know you’ve been itching to have a go.”

Sighing, Weiss drew Myrtenaster from her waist, “I don’t know about that, but what I do know is that I would like to prove you wrong.”

Yang gave her a huge grin, and pulled out her Ember Celica from her backpack. 

\-----

Weiss took her position on the other side of the amphitheater. Yang stood opposite, the light of the room gleaming off her gauntlets. 

They began by circling each other, taking careful note of each other's poise and posture. 

Then suddenly, without warning, Yang swung her arms behind her and with two blasts of her wrists, rocketed towards Weiss. She quickly dodged to the side, barely missing being hit by a flurry of golden fury.

Despite it being many years since Weiss had fought anyone on a one on one, she felt her heart begin to race and the blood pump through her body. Her body began to move reactively on it’s own, and she pulled her rapier out in front of her.

Yang smirked, and before Weiss could have a moment to think about her next move, Yang once again catapulted herself towards her, hooking her leg underneath her.  
She felt her legs go and the whole arena turned sideways. Being knocked to the floor, Weiss felt herself temporarily winded. 

However Yang didn’t give her a chance to recover. The glint of the gauntlet once again caught the light, and before it had a chance to smash into her, Weiss rolled to her side. Her thumb then swiveled the dust barrel until she heard a familiar click. 

Then sweeping her arm out in a wide arc, and a sheet of ice covered the floor, causing Yang to momentarily lose her balance, with her stumbling back a few steps.

This gave Weiss the opening to be on the offensive. Pulling Myrtenaster behind her, the barrel once again clicking into place. Light on her feet, and as graceful as a ballet dancer, Weiss took a few steps forwards towards Yang.

A black time glynth appeared behind Yang on the wall. Her movement slowed down, and Weiss smirked. Oh how she had missed the thrill of the fight.

She knew that Yang’s semblance was all about taking hits and hitting back twice as hard. And Weiss wanted the fight to be over before Yang could activate it. 

Clicking the dust barrel once again, she raised Myrtenaster in front of her in a dignified manner and a yellow glynth appeared beneath Yang. Lightning erupted up and Yang yelped in pain as electricity zapped her slowed body.

Weiss had hoped to paralyse Yang to win the fight, but she hadn’t counted on how resilient she was. Yang fired her left gauntlet into the floor, cracking the sheet of ice underneath her. 

That shocked Weiss, and Yang took advantage of that. Swinging her right arm behind her, she fired another shotgun bullet, breaking the glynth.

Now free of her slowed movement, she pushed herself back on her feet and took a side step to her left. Weiss raised her arms defensively. 

Their two fighting styles couldn’t be any more different. Although over the years, Yang’s unruly brawl side had become refined into a more punchy and precise, it contrasted heavily with Weiss’s elegant poise on the battlefield. 

From the many years of fighting side by side, the pair of them knew how each of them thought, what was running through their heads during the heat of the battle. They needed to, especially if they were to survive fighting Grimm, and more importantly Salem’s forces.

The downside to this, meant they both knew each other’s tricks and tells. Countering each other was going to be difficult.  
Yang once again took the offense and sprinted towards Weiss. However this time, Weiss was ready for it. She brought up her rapier and the sound of metallic clanging filled the arena.

With a fiery bang, Yang tried to knock Weiss to the ground once again. But Weiss too was made of sterner stuff. The bang momentarily dazed her, and she took half a step backwards. Then the dust barrel clicked once again, the red dust ready to be used. 

Using her strength, she pushed Yang off her and attempted to cast another glynth. 

“Oh no you don’t!” Yang exclaimed, and once again propelled herself forward to Weiss. 

Instinctively, Weiss yelped out, activating her semblance. A giant white glowing sword appeared in front of her, emanating from glynth.

Shocked by this sudden appearance, Yang tried to stop herself, but it was too late and she had to cross her arms in front of her to avoid being hit in the face. 

Stuttering back a few steps, she took up a defensive stance. Weiss then took the opportunity to take the offense once again and the sword began to start attacking Yang. She could see beads of sweat forming at Yang’s forehead as she tried to parry the attacks away.

Using the red dust that was loaded into her rapier, Weiss saw an opening from her semblance attack and used it to shoot a small fireball towards her. Yang saw this coming and shot two small rockets out of her gauntlets, which collided in the air to create a smokey explosion. Using this distraction, Weiss called upon her semblance once again to summon a small knight.

Weiss felt her heart racing. She had spent the past few years sitting behind a desk, and had not felt the adrenaline from combat in such a long time. Weiss felt like she shouldn't be enjoying herself. But in fact, she was relishing in it. 

Yang was now surrounded by two combatants. It took all of her strength and skill to fend them off. It took all of Weiss’s concentration to focus both herself and her semblance knight to fight Yang. 

Knowing this, Yang grinned. As both the knight and Weiss went to strike her at the same time, Yang ducked and Weiss was hit with the full force of her own semblance. Being knocked in the head, her concentration slipped and her knight vanished.

Yang then went to hook her leg under Weiss again. Not wanting to fall for the same trick again, Weiss went to dodge, but instead Yang changed her movement at the last second and punched Weiss in the gut, which sent her sprawling to the floor.

This attack winded Weiss very heavily, as the full force of the Ember Celica was not something to be reckoned with. Myrtenaster clanked and rolled away from Weiss’s hand.  
Seeing this opening, Yang pounced over Weiss and grabbed her rapier. Before Weiss had a chance to move, Yang loomed over her pointing her own weapon in her face. 

Defeat. 

Weiss sighed and smiled at Yang. Smirking back, Yang spun the rapier in her hand and handed it back to Weiss.

Weiss wiped the sweat from her brow, and stood up, trying to catch her breath. The silence that followed was broken by a loud applause. Looking up, she could see that several students had silently filtered into the tiered seating to watch. In the midst of the sparring match, Weiss didn’t realise how intently she had been concentrating on the fight. 

Yang turned to face the students, “And that students, is how two professional huntresses fight with each other.”

Weiss became acutely aware of the students' gaze upon her piercing the back of her head, “Yang, I didn’t realise that our match would be public.”

“Relax, I thought you did amazing. Besides it was just the inspiration that my students needed ahead of tomorrow’s opening,” Yang replied back quietly, so only that Weiss could hear her. 

Initially Weiss had been annoyed at how Yang had tricked her into the battle. However she couldn’t deny how much she had enjoyed the fight. 

“Hello all,” she called back to the students, “I look forward to seeing you all perform at the Vytal Tournament.”

Yang grinned and then began delivering a seminar about fighting opponents in a one on one situation.

Weiss took a step back and leaned against the wall, calming herself down. Yang’s voice was oddly soothing and Weiss took a moment to drink in the scene. 

The whole experience had felt so surreal. Weiss had put off visiting so long, and a part of her had felt guilty about being back. The memories of the place were so overwhelming, and the associations she had with it. 

Grief had made her afraid. Everything, from the students, to the amphitheatre and the professors, thrummed with memories. Specifically, memories of Ruby. 

Weiss had been so scared of coming back. And the guilt bubbling up inside only confirmed it. 

Not being able to stomach any more, Weiss slipped out, leaving Yang to continue teaching to the throng of students in the rafters.  
_____________________________________

Outside, Weiss felt she could breathe once again. The cool breezy air helped cool the sweat on her forehead. 

The fight with Yang had helped her get out a lot of pent up energy she had been storing over the past few years. Weiss hadn’t realised but this was the first time she had taken any steps in reaching out, both to her team and friends in Vale. She knew she had been selfish, but she had convinced herself that being kept busy in Atlas was the reason she couldn’t come back to Beacon.

Weiss hadn't been paying attention where she had been walking, and stopped as she realised had come to halt just under the Beacon Academy statue, where a familiar blue haired man sat underneath, reading his scroll.

“Oh hello there Ice Queen.”

Neptune grinned, catching the sight of Weiss lost in thought, standing in front of him.

“I see that you are lost for words, and that I cannot fault you for, for I am devilishly good looking, and any lady would swoon in my presence,” he winked, and stood up in front of her.

Weiss sighed, but she was secretly glad to have bumped into him.

“And I see that you are still an ass, though I will say a lovable one at that,” she replied.

Grinning, Neptune gave her a quick welcoming hug. Once again, Weiss felt a sense of reassurance from the embrace with him, albeit even if it was brief.

“So how did the tour go with Yang?” he asked, “must be weird being back?”

“It’s like I’ve never left, I didn’t realise how normal everything looks.” 

She cast her eyes back to the campus, watching the colourful bunting swaying slightly in the breeze. All down the Avenue she could see the hustle and bustle of various food vendors carrying cardboard boxes to their stalls, doing their last few bits of setup before the festival kicked off tomorrow. 

“Yeah, Glynda did an amazing job in rebuilding it. She always had an eye for detail.” 

Weiss nodded in agreement. They began slowly walking down the Avenue. Students and vendors alike would stop and gawk at the great former Schnee heiress and huntress. Weiss had been away from the public eye for so long, that she forgot that she would garner the attention of all the people passersby. After all, she was not only was she currently the co-ceo of the Schnee Dust Company, but she had the legacy attached of helping defeat Salem.

Something that every person in Remnant knew about. 

“So what brings you to Beacon this morning?” asked Weiss.

“Ah I had a meeting about the final security checks with Glenda and Winter, since the festival is kicking off tomorrow.”

“Oh,” replied Weiss, “I didn’t realise you were part of the festival too.”

“Yup! After what happened at the last Vytal Tournament, they’ve decided to beef up the security with local hunters and huntresses from across Remnant. It was part of a deal that Winter brokered with Glynda, in return for using Atlas soldiers.”

Weiss nodded in agreement, it made sense after all. She remembered the last tournament, when Cinder and Roman had hacked the Atlas robots to make them attack the students and attendees. 

“However, I can’t really tell you too much more, you know, actual security measures and all that.”

“Yeah, it’s cool Neptune,” Weiss said. “Honestly it’s crazy what my sister has been up to, I know I’ve been busy, but she’s pretty non existent over the past year organising everything.”

Although Weiss had mostly kept to herself the past couple of years, she had grown a lot closer to her elder sister. Winter would always stop by the mansion to make sure that Weiss was doing okay. However, between running Atlas academy, having a seat on the council and overseeing the security for the festival, Weiss had barely seen her recently.

“Hopefully at least you can see her this week,” Neptune said reassuringly. 

Weiss gave him a gentle smile back. Despite everything that had happened, she was grateful to have bumped into him.

\-------------------------------------------

Together, the two of them walked along the Avenue. Neptune made small talk, telling Weiss about some of the shenanigans that Team SSSN had been up to while she had been away. In return Weiss had spoken about general ongoings in Atlas and working at her family’s dust company. 

Despite having gone out for drinks the previous night, Weiss still seemed very reserved. Neptune remembered back at their time as students where Weiss was passionate and outspoken, some of the qualities he really admired in her. One of his fonder yet slightly awkward memories was when she had asked him out to the dance. He originally had turned her down, but that was only because he had been too nervous to dance with THE one and only Schnee heiress. That and he had two left feet.

Seeing her all dressed up, made her look so regal, and that only made the butterflies in his stomach even worse. Luckily Jaune had knocked sense into him, and thus they had spent the evening dancing the night away together.

However with the events that had transpired at Evernight Castle, where the final battle with Salem had gone down, she had not been the same since. It wasn’t surprising, after losing both her partner and team leader, Weiss had become withdrawn from everyone else that she knew.

“Have you seen the new Arena?” Neptune asked, trying to drive the conversation away from the past.

“No, is it far from here?” Weiss replied quizzically. 

Neptune grinned, “Shall we have a quick nosy around it?”

He saw the glint in her icey blue eyes, and knew that he had piqued her interest. 

“I would love to!”

Neptune knew it would be a long way before Weiss was back to her former self, but this was a good start.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, I haven't written a fanfic in a very long time. However I was struck with inspiration and wrote down the plot to this fic. I've written most of the next chapter and will probably post it once I've smoothed over and gotten the final details. Hopefully you guys will enjoy this!


End file.
